The first weekend of the MLB season has come and gone... well, except for the West Coast games, and The Mets and Nationals are still waiting to play their first games of the season thanks to coronavirus issues... it's also been eventful in that the Atlanta Braves had the All-Star game taken away from them this year, no word on where the game is going to be held at this point... the Indians finally got their first win today against Detroit when the bats woke up, scoring 8 times in the final 4 innings. Tomorrow is going to be our home opener... And while I'm not going to be there, I am definitely excited that there is going to be fans back at the stadium... of course, I am still concerned about the big picture, hoping that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, and realizing that disaster could be right around the corner, especially if people get careless, especially as the weather is getting warmer.... but it is going to be huge, seeing real people at the game, real noise being made, and not a bunch of cardboard cutouts.

So what is everybody thinking about the season? Is it going to survive without major covid issues? Who do you think is going to win it all this year? Who do you want to win?

Of course I would love for this to be the Indians year... but realistically it's probably going to be difficult... Minnesota and Chicago are looking pretty threatening, and even Kansas City and Detroit are likely a little bit improved from last year... we have traded a lot of talent the last few seasons... but our bullpen certainly has some young, talented, and exciting arms... the offense is probably going to struggle, but may actually be a little better than last year... not a ton of power, but it looks like maybe we will have a little more speed, contact, and athleticism than we have had in recent years. The rotation should be decent, although likely not to be the dominant presence that it has been the last several seasons...

The NL West definitely looks to be an exciting race between the Dodgers and the Padres... wouldn't be at all surprised to see them in the NLCS, and potentially winning it all when all is said and done... In the AL, Chicago looks like they may finally be ready to put it all together, they definitely look like they are going to be legitimate competition for us... along with Minnesota. Toronto looks like another exciting, young team...

So, I'm gonna go out on a limb... and make my wildly inaccurate prediction that will probably look downright silly by the end of October... but I think the Padres are going to win the World Series this year... there has been a trend of teams breaking their curses (well, except for a certain unlucky team from Northeast Ohio...) ever since the Red Sox took care of their's, and I think the trend will continue this year... they will be a wild card, finishing a couple games behind the Dodgers, but they will still upset them in the playoffs, and then beating the White Sox in the World Series.